Eddie Rickenbacker returned home to a hero’s welcome after World War I.

The years since have not been as kind to the house he grew up in on the South Side of Columbus.

Malt liquor bottles lay in the grass last week outside 1334 E. Livingston Ave., where the WWI flying ace grew up. An empty pack of Newport cigarettes rested near a sign trumpeting Rickenbacker’s claim to fame: downing 26 German planes. White paint peeled from a picket fence between the house and the sidewalk. The gate was shut.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In 2006, after decades of planning and lobbying, local officials and community members announced a plan to restore the house, one of three Columbus locations designated as National Historic Landmarks. (The others are the Statehouse and Ohio Theatre).

Rickenbacker was born in Columbus in 1890 to Swiss immigrants and was one of eight children. Beyond his career as a fighter pilot, he was an internationally acclaimed race-car driver.

The project was also meant to recognize famous Columbus-born inventor Granville T. Woods, a black man who held more than 50 patents. He didn’t have any connection to the property, but planners wanted to honor him as well.

The city bought the dilapidated property for $42,000 in 1998. The state gave the city $475,000 in 2001 to support the project. The county chipped in at least another $30,000.

Private money poured in as well. The Columbus Foundation gave $25,000 in two grants, in 2005 and 2007.

“This is an exciting project in that it will provide a campus setting that will serve as a platform for local students interested in math and science,” John Moore, former executive director of Rickenbacker Woods Inc., the group spearheading the restoration, said in a Dispatch article in October 2006.

Now, only the exterior of Rickenbacker’s house and a small structure next door have been renovated. The inside of the house was gutted and merely sealed from the weather.

The memories of the people involved in the project have clouded. No one can say exactly how much money went to what. Some said a large portion was put into creating a plan for the museum and other buildings. Others said a majority went toward fixing up the house.

Dorothy Teater, a former Franklin County commissioner and member of the board formed in the early 2000s to oversee the project, has her reason why the vision wasn’t fulfilled: “Well, frankly, we couldn’t raise any money.”

Teater registered the name “Rickenbacker/Woods Technology Museum and Historical Park Inc.” with the Ohio secretary of state’s office in 2003. The registration expired in 2009.

These days, the city pays between $3,000 and $5,000 a year to mow the grass around the house, pick up trash and perform basic maintenance, said Reza Reyazi, assistant administrator for the city’s office of land redevelopment.

“The vision was to create a learning center for the students in the community. It was also to have pride in the community. It was to be the jewel of the community,” said Moore, who hasn’t been involved with the project since around 2007. “It was a noble idea that went wrong.”

Rickenbacker/Woods’ nonprofit status expired last year, said executive director Michael Aaron. He said he’s trying to find local funding to pay the $500 fee to reinstate the organization as a nonprofit.

There’s an interest in creating a museum and other buildings around Rickenbacker’s house, but the city and other neighborhood groups are divided about how to move forward, said Aaron, the past president of the Livingston Avenue Area Commission.

“(We’re trying to) come up with resources and get some things going. It just hasn’t happened yet,” Aaron said.